Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran announced today that
M.J.L. Corp. trading as Touch*Less II Car Wash, located at 16185
Shady Grove Road in Rockville Maryland was convicted of water pollution
and ordered to pay a $5000 fine. Company President and owner Samuel
Pellerito admitted that the car wash discharged its waste water
into the storm drain inlet near the intersection of Shady Grove
Road and MD Rt. 355 on November 10, 2005. State Highway Administration
engineers investigating why the storm water management pond alongside
MD Rt. 355 near Shady Grove Road contained green colored water
discovered that the soapy water originated from the car wash. They
traced the discharge up stream through the manholes in the storm
sewer until they arrived at the car wash. At that point they took
photographs of the discharge coming from a fenced in dumpster area
which contained a storm drain inlet.

Montgomery County District Court Judge Stephen
P. Johnson imposed a $10,000 fine on the company, suspended $5,000
and placed the
car wash on one year’s unsupervised probation. The judge
also ordered that the line leading from the car wash to the storm
drain inlet be permanently filled in and disabled.

According to the statement of facts, the discharge came from
a line connected to the car wash’s waste-water collection
system. Although that line was supposed to have been capped and
sealed in 2001, state and county inspectors discovered that the
cap could be removed thus restoring the line to service. The
case was investigated by the Environmental Crimes Unit of the
Office of the Attorney General with assistance from the Maryland
State Police, the State Highway Administration, the Maryland
Department of the Environment and the Montgomery County Division
of Environmental Policy and Compliance.